WASHINGTON – Hampered by a fourth-quarter scoring drought, the American University women's basketball team dropped a tough 59-50 contest to Holy Cross on Saturday afternoon at Bender Arena.

Junior Lauren Crisler recorded her second straight double-double, finishing with 15 points and a career-high 14 rebounds to lead the Eagles, who fell to 6-20 overall and 4-11 in the Patriot League.

Meanwhile, Lisa Mifsud and Infiniti Thomas-Waheed each scored 17 points to lead Holy Cross, which improved to 12-14 overall and 9-6 in the Patriot League.

With the game tied at 13-13 late in the opening period, Holy Cross closed out the quarter with four straight points to pull ahead. The Crusaders extended their lead to 26-20 with just under three minutes remaining in the second period, but Crisler scored five straight points to cut the Eagles' deficit to one point heading into the intermission.

American opened the third period on a 7-2 run to take a four-point lead, its largest of the game, but Holy Cross came back to tie the game before increasing its advantage to 47-39 with 30 seconds remaining in the quarter.

A 6-0 run brought the Eagles back to within one point with 8:06 to play, but American went scoreless over the next seven minutes, allowing Holy Cross to extend its lead to double figures before taking the nine-point victory.

Although American dominated on the boards, outrebounding Holy Cross 42-27, the Eagles shot just 35 percent for the game, including 23 percent in the final stanza. AU was also just 1-of-11 from beyond the arc.

The Eagles head to Navy for their final road game of the regular season, visiting the Midshipmen on Wednesday, Feb. 24, for a 7 p.m. contest.

"It'll be interesting to face Navy since we haven't seen them all year," said American head coach Megan Gebbia. "I know that they're playing better right now. They're really physical, but not big. I think our advantage will be inside against them.

"We just want to turn things around and feel good about ourselves at some point. It would be great to win three out of our next three or at least two out of the next three, so we can go into the tournament with a little bit more confidence than we have right now."